The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard supports concatenated short message service (SMS) messages. Mobile devices supporting concatenated SMS have the ability to send a “long” SMS message (e.g. with a size more than 140 bytes, etc.) as multiple SMS messages, with an indication that such messages are a part of a concatenated SMS message. Mobile devices that receive the messages have the ability to combine the messages, and present them as a single message to the user.
Such technology is enabled by the use of Transfer protocol User Data Header (TP-UDH) technology. TP-UDH allows the use of binary data in a normal SMS, prior to the text itself. The binary data consumes part of the limit (e.g. 140 bytes, etc.) of the SMS message. It should be noted that a single message in English can include 160 characters, whereas a message of 307 characters may be broken into 3 messages, since part of the message text length is used for the header information. At an application level, an SMS message is manipulated in the form of a Transport Protocol Data Unit (TPDU). The TPDU is a sequence of parameters containing information including whether it is a component of a concatenated message.
Recently, most mobile devices are configured to support concatenated SMS messages. While this capability is very useful as it extends the limit on the information that can be exchanged using the SMS protocol, SMS messages are currently rated by occurrence, without any consideration of the fact that they are part of a concatenated SMS. In other words, each SMS message is unconditionally billed separately. For example, if a concatenated SMS message is divided into 3 messages, a user is billed for 3 separate messages.
Unfortunately, one ramification of the foregoing is that, in the case of prepaid subscribers, for example, a decision as to whether an SMS message can be delivered or not is based on individual messages. Thus, it is possible that only a part of a long SMS will be delivered, if a prepaid balance is not sufficient for all of the components of the message.
There is thus a need for overcoming these and/or other problems associated with the prior art.